Does the phone need to be on to receive emails on the watch 3 LTE when the watch is away from the phone? Today I was traveling and had the phone off and noticed that I hadn’t received emails on the watch 3
Apple Watch Series 3, iOS 11.0.3
Hi
Yes - under those circumstances, when using the built-in cellular feature on your Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), the paired iPhone also needs to be turned on and connected to the cellular network in order to be able to send and receive emails on your Apple Watch.
Functions that are available on your Apple Watch when it is away from your iPhone depend on various factors including:
About Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular on your Apple Watch - Apple Support
Features that are available under different circumstances are detailed here, including within the footnotes:
How to use your Apple Watch without your iPhone nearby - Apple Support
That makes sense but what confused me is this statement on the link that was provided above:
To receive SMS, MMS, or push notifications from third-party apps on your Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), your paired iPhone must be powered on and connected to Wi-Fi or cellular, but it doesn't need to be nearby.
Since email is "Push" i can see why the phone has to be on but then the statement on the Apple site referenced third-part apps and I wouldn't consider the native email app to be considered third party.
I also tried the watch today with my home wifi with the phone off and emails didn't come in either. This surprised me. too. I have had the Watch 3 since launch and never noticed this email requirement since I typically keep the phone on when it isn't with me. This week the phone ran out of battery and I was expecting the watch to be able get emails.
This is incorrect, after having the same issue (mail not working over LTE while away from iPhone), i spoke to Apple Support who confirmed it should work. In the days after the case was escalated to the watch engineering team, it mysteriously started working and continued to work until i got my iPhone X and set the watch up as a new watch, now the problem has returned.
The iPhone needs to be powered on and have a cellular connection in order for the watch to receive SMS, but mail and iMessages should be working on the LTE watch even with the iPhone turned off.
Was your watch connected to LTE? How many dots did you have?
Footnote 1 refers to messages, not email.
Mail is also not supported on Apple Watch via Wi-Fi, as referenced within the support article linked in my previous reply.
Watch 3 LTE email
